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Fact Sheet
  • CBTRUS (Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States) incidence rates and estimated new cases include all primary malignant and non-malignant tumors of the brain, central nervous system, pituitary and pineal glands, and olfactory tumors of the nasal cavity (including brain lymphoma and leukemia).

  • SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) program incidence and survival rates extracted from the SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2006 include primary malignant tumors of the brain and central nervous system (excluding brain lymphoma and leukemia, tumors of the pituitary and pineal gland, and olfactory tumors of the nasal cavity).

  • SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) program survival rates estimated using the SEER Cancer Incidence Limited-Use Database, 1973-2006 include all primary malignant tumors of the brain, central nervous system, pituitary and pineal glands, and olfactory tumors of the nasal cavity (including brain lymphoma and leukemia).

  • ACS (American Cancer Society) estimated deaths include primary malignant tumors of the brain and central nervous system (excluding brain lymphoma and leukemia, tumors of the pituitary and pineal glands, and olfactory tumors of the nasal cavity).

  • IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) worldwide incidence rates include primary malignant tumors of the brain and central nervous system (excluding brain lymphoma and leukemia, tumors of the pituitary and pineal glands, and olfactory tumors of the nasal cavity). Global rates are age-adjusted using the world standard population. These rates may be compared to other rates adjusted to the world standard population, but they cannot be compared to rates adjusted to other population standards, such as the 2000 United States standard population.

  • Incidence rates are age-adjusted using the 2000 United States standard population unless otherwise noted.

Incidence
  • CBTRUS: The incidence rate of all primary non–malignant and malignant brain and central nervous system tumors is 18.71 cases per 100,000 person–years (11.52 per 100,000 person–years for non–malignant tumors and 7.19 per 100,000 person–years for malignant tumors). The rate is higher in females (19.88 per 100,000 person–years) than males (17.44 per 100,000 person–years). 1a

  • CBTRUS: An estimated 62,930 new cases of primary non–malignant and malignant brain and central nervous system tumors are expected to be diagnosed in the United States in 2010. 1b

  • SEER: The incidence rate of primary malignant brain and central nervous system tumors (excluding lymphomas, leukemias, tumors of pituitary and pineal glands, and olfactory tumors of the nasal cavity) is 6.4 cases per 100,000 person–years. This rate is higher in males (7.6 per 100,000 person–years) than females (5.4 per 100,000 person–years). 2a

  • ACS: An estimated 22,070 new cases of primary malignant brain and central nervous system tumors are expected to be diagnosed in the United States in 2009 (12,010 in males and 10,060 in females). This represents 1.49% of all primary malignant cancers expected to be diagnosed in the United States in 2009. 3

  • IARC: The worldwide incidence rate of primary malignant brain and central nervous system tumors in 2002, age–adjusted using the world standard population, is 3.7 per 100,000 person–years in males and 2.6 per 100,000 person–years in females. This represents an estimated 108,277 males and 81,305 females who were diagnosed with a primary malignant brain tumor in 2002, an overall total of 189,582 individuals. The incidence rates are higher in more developed countries (males: 5.8 per 100,000 person–years; females: 4.1 per 100,000 person–years) than in less developed countries (males: 3.0 per 100,000 person–years; females: 2.1 per 100,000 person–years). 4

  • CBTRUS: CBTRUS has calculated a worldwide estimate of 186,678 newly diagnosed primary non–malignant brain and central nervous system tumors per annum for 2002 (males: n=80,759; females: n=105,918). 5
Pediatric Incidence (Ages 0-19)
  • CBTRUS: The incidence rate of childhood primary non–malignant and malignant brain and central nervous system tumors is 4.71 cases per 100,000 person–years. The rate is higher in males (4.75 per 100,000 person–years) than females (4.66 per 100,000 person–years). 1a

  • CBTRUS: An estimated 4,030 new cases of childhood primary non–malignant and malignant brain and central nervous system tumors are expected to be diagnosed in the United States in 2010. Of these 4,030 new cases, an estimated 2,880 will be in children less than 15 years of age. 1b

Mortality

  • ACS: An estimated 12,920 deaths will be attributed to primary malignant brain and central nervous system tumors in the United States in 2009. 3

Lifetime Risk

  • SEER: From birth, males have a 0.67% lifetime risk of being diagnosed with a primary malignant brain/central nervous system tumor and 0.48% chance of dying from a brain/central nervous system tumor (excluding lymphomas, leukemias, tumors of pituitary and pineal glands, and olfactory tumors of the nasal cavity). 2b
  • SEER: From birth, females have a 0.54% lifetime risk of being diagnosed with a primary malignant brain/central nervous system tumor and a 0.38% chance of dying from a brain/central nervous system tumor (excluding lymphomas, leukemias, tumors of pituitary and pineal glands, and olfactory tumors of the nasal cavity). 2b

Survival

  • SEER: The five–year relative survival rate following diagnosis of a primary malignant brain and central nervous system tumor (including lymphomas and leukemias, tumors of the pituitary and pineal glands, and olfactory tumors of the nasal cavity) is 33.6% for males and 37.0% for females (1995–2006 data). 6
  • SEER: Five–year relative survival rates following diagnosis of a primary malignant brain and central nervous system tumor (including lymphomas and leukemias, tumors of the pituitary and pineal glands, and olfactory tumors of the nasal cavity) by age of diagnosis (1995–2006 data): 6
Age 0-19 years: 72.1% Age 55-64 years: 16.7%
Age 20-44 years: 55.9% Age 65-74 years: 9.6%
Age 45-54 years: 30.7% Age 75 or older: 5.2%

Prevalence

  • CBTRUS: The prevalence rate for all primary brain and central nervous system tumors was estimated to be 209.0 per 100,000 in 2004. It was estimated that more than 612,000 persons were living with a diagnosis of primary brain and central nervous system tumor in the United States in 2004 (malignant tumor: more than 124,000 persons; non-malignant tumor: more than 488,000 persons).7
  • CBTRUS: The prevalence rate for all pediatric (ages 0-19) primary brain and central nervous system tumors was estimated at 35.4 per 100,000 with more than 28,000 children estimated to be living with this diagnosis in the United States in 2004. 7

1a. Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States analyses of the NPCR and SEER data, 2004-2006.
1b. The age-specific rate method (www.idph.state.il.us/cancer/pdf/projections/Final_methodsV2_no_examples_updated_for_2007-2010.pdf) was utilized to project 2010 estimates of all primary brain tumors using the NPCR/SEER 2004-2006 age-sex-race-specific brain tumor incidence rates for a group by the age-sex-race-specific projections for that group. Projected population estimates for 2010 were derived for the 50 states and District of Columbia using the US Census Bureau 1990-2006 population data (seer.cancer.gov/popdata/index.html).

2. Horner MJ, Ries LAG, Krapcho M, Neyman N, Aminou R, Howlader N, Altekruse SF, Feuer EJ, Huang L, Mariotto A, Miller BA, Lewis DR, Eisner MP, Stinchcomb DG, Edwards BK (eds). SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2006, National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD, http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2006/, based on November 2008 SEER data submission, posted to the SEER web site, 2009.
2a. Table 3.6 (2002–2006 data).
2b. Table 3.11 (2004–2006 data).

3. American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2009. Atlanta: American Cancer Society; 2009.

4. Ferlay J, Bray F, Pisani P and Parkin DM. GLOBOCAN 2002: Cancer Incidence, Mortality and Prevalence Worldwide, Version 2.0. IARC CancerBase No. 5. Lyon, IARCPress, 2004. Limited version available from: URL: http://www_depdb.iarc.fr/globocan2002.htm.

5. McCarthy BJ, Schellinger KA, Propp JM, Kruchko C, Malmer B. A Case for the Worldwide Collection of Primary Benign Brain Tumors. Neuroepidemiology 33(3):268-275, 2009.

6. Estimated by CBTRUS using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program (www.seer.cancer.gov) SEER*Stat Database: Incidence —SEER 17 Regs Limited–Use, Nov 2008 Sub (1973–2006), National Cancer Institute, DCCPS, Surveillance Research Program, Cancer Statistics Branch, released April 2009, based on the November 2008 submission.

7. Porter KR, McCarthy BJ, Freels S, Kim Y, Davis FG. Prevalence estimates for primary brain tumors in the US by age, gender, behavior, and histology. Neuro-Oncology, In press.